Jerry Pumps Brakes On Garrett Bandwagon

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Owner and general manager Jerry Jones hasn’t been shy in praising the job done by interim head coach Jason Garrett since stepping into the position four weeks ago, and at this point, it would be fair to say that, considering the labor climate in the NFL, it’d be surprising to see anyone else as the head coach of the Cowboys next year. But Jones doesn’t want to get carried away with his praise of “The Redheaded Jesus,” who has led Dallas to a 3-1 record since becoming the head coach.

This is a fair point, of course, as the sample size on Garrett is just four games; but there may be an ulterior motive at work here, as well. Jones may be trying to drive down Garrett’s price as head coach, to get a leg up on negotiations, by downplaying his role in the Cowboys’ recent resurgence.

“What I do not want to do--and I want to be real careful--is to try to identify or couch Jason as, he can step in here and get it done,” Jones said, per ESPN Dallas. “Because if we don’t get it done and times get hard, which that happens as a head coach, then all of the sudden the bloom is off the rose and everybody says he’s overrated. It’s a lot of expectations to get used to a guy coming in and winning 75 percent of his games right off the bat.”

Jones, who fired his head coach midseason for the first time in his 21 years as owner this season when he canned Wade Phillips, opted, rather than to lavish praise solely on Garrett--though he did some of that as well--emphasized the job done by the players in recent weeks.

“What you don’t need to X out of this equation is how much this team within itself has pulled its own self up,” Jones said. “This can’t be done by tricks, quotes and Knute Rockne speeches.”